A Wilted Rose
by RBabe500
Summary: jessie remembers when she met james, and how their relationship grew into a romantic 1
1. Default Chapter

In the 18 years I've been alive, my heart has never hurt as much as when James walked out on me. As I watched his retreating back fade into the darkness, I knew that my life had changed forever. Somehow, deep in my heart, I knew he wasn't coming back.  
  
I've known James for almost 10 years, and I've always loved him unconditionally. I look into his emerald green eyes and I know that no one will ever understand me like he does. He is my light, my hope, my world. I know that no matter what happens in my life and no matter who I meet, James will always come first in my heart and in my mind.  
  
But now he's gone. And I can say that, without a doubt, it is all my fault. I pushed him too far. After all these years, I finally pushed him too far.  
  
I always knew that I was a little mean to James, but that's just how I am. I like everything to be perfect. He always joked that I'm especially obsessed with my looks. Maybe I am. I can't help it. Growing up, I was very poor. My mother's job in Team Rocket didn't pay well, and my father had died when I was five years old. I used to go to school in the same clothes every day. A little red dress, little brown boots that were at least two sizes too small for me, and a single red ribbon in my hair. I still have the ribbon.  
  
At school, people made fun of me. My hair was unwashed. My nails were dirty. No one wanted to be around me. The only time they spoke to me was when they poked fun at me or asked me questions. The questions were the worst. Questions like "Hey, Jessie, how come you're so poor?" and "Hey, Jessie, I hear your mom is a criminal. Does she kill people?" Then they would all start laughing. Laughing at some great big joke. I hated them. It was worse when they asked about my dad. They knew that if they brought up my dad I would start to cry.  
  
Some days I would come home from school with my eyes all red and puffy from crying. But I never told my mom the true reason I had been crying. I never told my mom the truth about school. I always lied. She thought that I had lots of friends. Sometimes she would tell me to invite them over. I just lied more and said they were all busy.  
  
After my mom died, I was placed in a foster home. I was ten years old. I refused to even talk to my foster parents. I thought that if I acted like my mom was still alive, it would mean she was. Finally, my foster parents stopped trying to get close to me. They sent me away to a very elite boarding school called Pokemon Tech.  
  
At Pokemon Tech, I hoped desperately to hide my past from the other students. It proved impossible. I became friends with one girl, Cassidy, and trusted her with my secret that I was very poor and my real parents were dead. The next day, the whole school knew. Cassidy swore that she hadn't told a soul, but I knew she was lying. Form that day on, we were rivals.  
  
One day, Cassidy and some of her friends were making fun of me again. This one boy named Butch, who was always smoking, took out his lighter and started to wave it at me, as if he wanted to set me on fire. I stared at him, sure that he actually would set me on fire to impress his friends. He waved the lighter closer to me, almost making it touch my hair. I screamed. Cassidy laughed, cheering Butch on.  
  
"Let her alone!" someone yelled from behind me.  
  
"Oh, look, it's little Jimmy," Butch said in a taunting voice. "Little Jimmy who's too scared to play baseball with all the guys. Little Jimmy who plays with dolls!"  
  
I turned around to see who it was that Butch seemed to hate so much. Behind me was a boy with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. They were like emeralds, a pure green that was so captivating I couldn't take my eyes off of them. When I finally tore my eyes away from his, I gave him a once over. His hair was blue, ocean blue like my eyes. He was kind of short and not too tough looking. I realized who he was. He was James, the rich little boy whose parents had sent him to Pokemon Tech in hopes of turning him into a man. From what I had seen, the boys picked on James quite a bit. I guess he and I had something in common.  
  
"I don't play with dolls!" James yelled, blushing.  
  
"Sure you don't, Jimmy, sure you don't," Butch replied.  
  
Cassidy took Butch's arm and began to pull him away. "Come on Butch, this is boring now. We can deal with them later." Butch looked at Cassidy, and then he nodded.  
  
"Right, we'll get them tomorrow." With that, they walked away, leaving me and James all alone.  
  
I groped for words, not sure what to say to him. I went with what seemed the safest thing to say. "Thank you. Thank you so much."  
  
He looked at me, unsure what to say back. But he didn't have a chance to think of what to say, for I broke down crying at that moment. Walking over to me, I felt him put his arms around me, holding me, comforting me. I held onto him tightly, as if without him I would fall off the face of the earth. Maybe I would have. I'll never know.  
  
From that point on, James and I spent all our time together. We were both outcasts, freaks, the weirdos. Him because he was engaged at the age of 10, me because I was poor. And we both had in common the fact that we were failing Pokemon Tech. It was a match made by the gods. We were perfect for each other. We just hadn't realized it yet.  
  
Ch.2 up soon. R&R 


	2. "I Love You"

A bit shorter than the last chapter, but nice and rocketshippy………btw, u know, I don't own any of these characters or anything……blah blah blah……kk, read and review!!! enjoy! ^_^  
  
No matter how hard James and I tried, we were unable to bring up our grades. One day when we were both 14, we were called into the principal's office. We both knew that it was about our grades because we hadn't done anything wrong lately. Butch and Cassidy had pretty much stopped bothering us. As far as we could tell, they were bored with us. We considered ourselves lucky.  
  
The principal looked very upset as she began to talk to us. "Jessica, James, I have some bad news." We looked at each other. I bit my lip with worry. "Due to your continually dropping grades and failure to socialize with anyone besides each other, you are both being, well, to put it bluntly, thrown out of Pokemon Tech."  
  
James's mouth dropped open in disbelief. I bit my lip harder to keep from screaming out in frustration and anguish. I bit it so hard in fact, that it began to bleed. I could taste my blood in my mouth. It was bitter, just as I felt.  
  
The principal continued. "James, your parents' chauffeur will pick you up in the morning. Jessica, your mother will pick you up tomorrow afternoon."  
  
Unable to restrain myself, I blurted out, "She's not my mother. My mother's dead. And I wish I was with her." With that, I ran out, tears flowing out of my eyes, down my cheeks, and onto the floor. I left a trail of tears behind me.  
  
Some time later, James came into my room. I was sitting on my bed crying. Tears of hatred seeped out of my eyes. I thought the anger in me would never die out. James came over and sat next to me, putting his arm around me. I held onto him, much as I had that day we had first met. And much like that day, he just held me, letting me cry.  
  
It wasn't that I minded being kicked out of Pokemon Tech. In fact, I was glad. I hated it. But I knew that James and I would never see each other again if we went our separate ways. He would go home and get married. I would go home and spend many more years living with my foster parents. The thought of never seeing James again devastated me. James was all I had in the world. It was on that day that I realized that I loved him.  
  
As he held me, I tried to figure out just what to say to him. How do you tell someone that you are in love with them? Finally, I decided to just be honest with him. But as I opened my mouth to speak, James spoke first.  
  
"I don't want to lose you, Jessie. You're all I have in the world. I don't want to go home and have to marry Jessiebell. She's the most awful girl in the world. All she cares about is being "proper" and doing things "properly." I don't want to be like that! I like how I am! And my parents, they don't care. They're on her side. They sent me here so that I could grow up. Well, I have, Jessie. I've learned a lot here. But the most important thing that I've learned is that true friends are hard to come by. You're my best friend in the world, Jessie. And I never told you, but I've had a crush on you since we were nine years old." Here James paused, then quickly continued. "I never told you because I didn't think you could ever like me back. But if we're going to be torn apart like this, I just think you should know. I love you, Jessie."  
  
I stared at him, amazed at how old and wise he sounded. Then I pulled him close and whispered in his ear, "I love you too, James. I love you too." 


End file.
